legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Final rejection
Detention
If the Refugee Appeals Board upholds the decision by the Immigration Service to reject an asylum
application, the asylum seeker will receive written and oral notification by the police of the final
rejection. This includes a time limit – normally 15 days from the date of notification of the final
decision – by which he/she is required to leave the country voluntarily.
A rejected asylum seeker may apply for a residence permit on humanitarian grounds pursuant to
Section 9.2.2 of the Aliens Act. An application will only have suspensive effect if it is submitted within
ten days of receiving notification of the rejection from the Refugee Appeals Board.
A rejected asylum seeker attends a meeting with the police in order to plan his/her return journey.
The Danish state pays for the travel expenses and provide pocket money if the person has no
money of his/her own. The asylum seeker is allowed to express a preference regarding the travel
route, and may even travel to a country other than his/her country of origin provided it is not more
expensive and he/she can obtain a visa for that country. In practice, however, this is not usually
possible due to time constraints.
A rejected asylum seeker may be detained if alternatives to detention are not considered sufficient to
ensure his/her presence for the purpose of removal from the country (see “Detention” below”)
If, through no fault of his/her own, an asylum seeker cannot be removed or deported – usually
because his/her country of origin refuses to re-admit him/her or because of disturbances there –
he/she will be released from detention. If the removal has been impossible for at least 18 months,
he/she may apply for a temporary residence permit in accordance with Section 9.2.4 of the Aliens
Act (exceptional grounds).
Asylum seekers may be detained upon arrival if the police consider that this is necessary to
enforce a refusal of entry or a transfer under the Dublin Convention. In practice, detention is
mainly used when the applicant’s identity and/or travel route are not established. Detention takes
place in a prison located near the Sandholm reception centre, which is exclusively reserved for
asylum seekers.
After three days, applicants must be brought before a court if the police intend to keep them in
detention. Free legal aid is made available during this hearing, but lawyers are generally appointed
shortly before the hearing and are given very limited time to study the case and meet with their
clients. The judge may extend the detention for another period, which cannot exceed four weeks. At
the expiration of this new period and any consecutive detention period, the detention measure must
be reviewed by the court. There are no maximum limits to the length of detention, except for asylum
seekers processed under the fast-track procedure, who cannot be detained for more than seven
days (see “Manifestly unfounded procedure” above).
The Aliens Act also provides for the possibility of detaining asylum seekers who refuse to stay in the
accommodation centre where they have been allocated, who do not appear for the interview with the
police or with the Immigration Service or who have a violent or threatening attitude towards staff
members of the accommodation centre.
Rejected asylum seekers may be detained if the police consider that the alternative measures to
detention provided for under Section 34 of the Aliens Act, are insufficient to ensure deportation.
Such alternative measures include:
– the deposit of the passport or other travel document with the police;
– the provision of bail in an amount determined by the police;
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Denmark